With puppies, "warm and fuzzy" is almost always a good thing. With movies, not so much, film critics being as fond as they are of withering sarcasm.

But in "Marley & Me," the big-screen adaptation of newspaper columnist John Grogan's bestselling account of his family's life with an incorrigible but lovable Labrador (subtitle: "Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog"), it's as apt a description as you're likely to get.

In this case, though, it shouldn't suggest a film that's eye-rollingly maudlin. Rather, "Marley & Me" is tail-waggingly heartwarming, due in no small part to the chemistry that stars Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston enjoy on-screen. (To say nothing of the "awwww" factor of the 22 dogs who play Marley over the course of the film's 13-year time frame.)

Marley the dog lunches on the family sofa in 'Marley & Me.'

MARLEY & ME
3, stars out of 4

Plot: The based-on-real-life accounting of a family's attachment to its incorrigible but loving Labrador. Based on the book by John Grogan.

What works: With nice chemistry between stars Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, the film does a good job of capturing the heartfelt emotion that has made Grogan's book a best-seller.

What doesn't: It flirts with maudlin at times, and as the story shifts to real-life issues midway through, it sags, losing its footing briefly.

Although the movie, directed by David Frankel ("The Devil Wears Prada"), flirts early with mawkishness -- feeling at times as if it will never elevate itself above a glorified Hallmark movie of the week -- it becomes a genuinely moving story as it unfolds.

Inspired by a series of articles Grogan wrote while working as a columnist at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the film starts with the newly married main characters adopting a Lab puppy. It becomes evident early that this is no ordinary dog. Untrainable and unmanageable -- but unconditionally lovable -- Marley is a four-legged wrecking crew that turns the Grogans' lives upside down.

He chews furniture, he chases anything, and he eats everything. At one point, he even gets kicked out of obedience school (by a dictatorial instructor played nicely by Kathleen Turner), an event that prompts Wilson's character to declare, "You are now officially the world's worst dog."

But he's their dog, and as the Grogan family grows, so does their love for Marley, as he repeatedly proves to be an invaluable part of it, warts and all.

Stocked with both heart and humor -- provided largely by Wilson's boyish charm and on-screen boss Alan Arkin's brilliant dry wit -- Frankel's film serves double duty as an ode to man's best friend and a big-screen recognition of the richness pets can add to the lives of their human masters.

It's a touching and memorable story, and well-told, with a not-a-dry-eye-in-the-house final act.

A lot of that emotion, however, is derived from some heavy real-life issues, a fact parents of young children should be aware of before succumbing to the wide-eyed puppy on the movie poster.

Though the book on which the film is based was adapted for younger readers, as "Marley: A Dog Like No Other" and the picture book "Bad Dog, Marley!" among other titles, many parents likely won't see the film as necessarily appropriate for all ages, regardless of what the 20th Century Fox marketing department seems to think.

The film also sags a bit in the middle as it transitions from its cuter-than-a-pen-of-puppies beginning and its tear-jerking end.

Still, it's a lovely adaptation of Grogan's book, a dog tale even cat people can appreciate.